There is need for a secure storage for temporarily storing the clothes and other articles of visitors in restaurants, theatres, concert and sports halls, reception areas of companies, etc. However, arranging a supervised coatroom is expensive and impossible in all locations because of lack of space, for example. Consequently, various lockable garment racks have been developed for visitors to lock their garments in.
U.S. Pat. No. 725,441 discloses a rack comprising a C-shaped bracket. The garments are clamped between a fixed disk at a lower arm and a second disk arranged in a movable arm. However, the rack disclosed is slow and difficult to use, since the required pressing movement is provided by rotating the arm around its shaft. Moreover, locking is difficult since it requires the use of a separate padlock.
WO publication 90/07046 discloses an apparatus for locking clothes and comprising a fixed contact surface and a movable contact surface. The movable contact surface is movable towards the fixed contact surface by means of a screw mechanism, allowing a garment arranged between the contact surfaces to be pressed between them. The use of the screw mechanism can be disabled with the locking apparatus to prevent unauthorized release of the pressing. The problem in this apparatus is the slow and cumbersome movement of the contact surface by means of the screw mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 892,407 discloses a rack comprising a C-shaped frame. The upper frame is tubular and an arc-shaped rod is arranged slidingly relative thereto, a contact surface at the outmost end of the rod being movable against the fixed contact surface in the lower frame for engaging the garment between the contact surfaces. A locking device fastened to the frame comprises a locking plate arranged to fit in a groove in the arm of the arc-shaped rod when the rod is moved into a predetermined locking position. The drawback in such a solution is that the rod is lockable only in a given position, determined by the location of the groove provided in the rod. Consequently, the rack is suitable only for the locking of articles of a given thickness.